Remember Me
by OniKuShita
Summary: AU She hunts criminals and works for justice in order to help the people. He kills from passion to find this one person. While he threatens her life, she changes his. As both met, no one had expect this outcome.
1. Prologue

**Chapter updated!**

**Here comes my first chapter fic. I hope that you can bear with me and my English language because I am ****_not_**** a native speaker. So it could be that there are some minor errors. But when this did not prevent you from reading, then I can say nothing more than enjoy and please leave a review what you think about my work. I would appreciate it.  
**

_Prologue_

The burning fire licked his skin, touched it with its hot sensation. The glowing light embraced his whole body in its dangerous warmth. He appeared like a creature from another world. His snow-white hair danced in the wind, like cherry blossoms at spring, while his red eyes glowed in the light of the fire. They resembled two bloody rubies. His mouth stretched into a wicked smile as he stared with piercing gaze at the men who surrounded them, glimmering in pure madness.

They were armed with guns, holding them in the direction of his heart, ready for the kill. Every normal person would feel nervous when someone threatened his life like this, but this man did not show any fear. No, he was_ amused_.

Chizuru, who sat on the ground, felt how her whole body shook from the adrenaline which shot through her veins. Her heart pounded heavily against her chest, making it hard for her to breath normally. She could not move or make a gesture that could show that she was alive at all. Even her little finger refused to make a motion. In awe, she looked at his broad back that protected her from the sight of the guns with the goal to end her life. Her dry throat constricted, while her big brown eyes stared in disbelief at the scene in front of her eyes.

No matter how often she thought about it, there was no way something like this could really happen. Just an hour ago, she was together with Sen at the Shopping Mall. And now she was trapped between dangerous men who would not let her go so easily. It had to be a bad dream or something similar. Yes, this was the best explanation she had. The only thing she had to do was to wake up. She closed her eyes, trying hard to break free from this never ending nightmare, but to her regret nothing happened.

As she opened her eyes, she heard the soft click of guns that echoed in her ears, as the men readied for the finishing blow. Even though most of the guns were aimed at him, there were a few which were meant for her. It was obvious how things would end. With a bitter smile, she pressed her eyes together. She did not want to see how he or she would die on the spot only because of her carelessness. Had she really thought she could change something ? Or was she simply too naive ?

She was sure she would never find out.

Suddenly, the picture of her family popped up in her mind. She would never see them again. At this thought, a silent tear left her right eye as she pressed her lips together to suppress a sob. All of these things did not matter anymore. Her life would end before it really began.

In the next moment, you could hear the sound of bullets that shot through the air.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter updated!**

**Thanks for the ones who took a look at my work! Enjoy!**

_Chapter 1_

With her trained eyes, she looked at the dark-haired man who was lying in front of her, with outstretched legs and the back touching the ground. Blue eyes looked nothingness, deprived of any life and the mouth hung lightly open in a never heard scream. As she let her gaze wander around, she saw numerous flesh wounds that covered his upper body and dried blood that drained his clothes and the bottom. It was as if someone had torn him into pieces, so that no one could recognize the corpse. Only his ID, which they found in his pocket together with his wallet, helped them to identify who he was.

_Daisuke Kenji, 24 years old, married._

It was hard for her to even look at the corpse. The scene was too cruel. To think that a human could do such a thing to another. In her mind, only a beast could do this kind of atrocity. Even though she had seen many deaths in the last years during her job, this case was different from all the ones she had to take, because there was a thing that occupied her mind.

The man was drained of blood.

She raised her head and looked at the gun he was holding which showed her he tried to defend himself from the creature that attacked him. In the next moment, she took the gun in her hands, of course with gloves as to not leave any of her fingerprints on the weapon, and turned it around to read the engraving.

_For my dear brother. _

The young woman frowned at these words and wondered if this gun was really his. She knew he had no siblings, only a wife whom they had to inform of his death soon. Then an idea popped up in her mind as she examined the weapon closer.

What if this weapon belonged to his murderer ?

She took out a paper bag in which she stored the gun and closed it slowly before she took it away in her own bag. Then, she continued with her investigation. With a skilled grip, she searched hints for further examination like the cause of death or the weapon the murderer used. After some time, she found several bruises on his chest and broken ribs that showed her he was bullied. But what surprised her the most was the roughness of the attacks. She knew when someone was bullied, he would have many bruises, but these were different from the ones she used to see. They were inflicted with more strength and violence than the ones she knew.

Perhaps those were the cause of his death.

While she took photos of the corpse, she heard approaching footsteps. They were coming closer and closer until the owner stopped in his tracks. As she turned her head, she saw a slim man in the same red-white uniform as hers with blue hair and amber eyes standing only a few meters away from her.

"What do you think ?"

The voice of Hideyoshi echoed through the alley, watching her carefully. His blue hair shone in the moonlight like floating water as he reached her side. The young woman stood up from her kneeling position and turned around to face him.

"If I didn´t know better, I would think it was a vampire." He chuckled after her comment and patted her on head, like her father did when she was a little child. "This was a good joke, Chizuru-chan." She smiled at him, but murmured something as he ruffled her brown hair to show him her displeasure. He only laughed louder. "You know I like to mess up your hair."

Chizuru sighed and regarded how he continued ruffling her hair until he had enough and she began to concentrate again on the current case. There was something that bothered her since she first saw the corpse. But she could not put her finger on what it was. It was not the lack of blood, though.

"Do you have any ideas of what happened ?"

He was right. She had something in mind concerning what happened to the man, but she could not say it out loud. He would think she was crazy after she spoke out her suspicion about a supernatural creature being the cause of the murder. No, she would definitely not tell Hideyoshi that. Her gaze wandered back to the corpse as she spoke.

"I think it was a cannibal."

She felt how his gaze was still on her, before he also dared a look to the victim. He was new in the business and this was the first murder he was allowed to work on. He felt like dead weight. Could he not figure out something important that would bring the team closer to catch the culprit.

How badly he wanted to be a help in his first murder case.

Hideyoshi saw how Chizuru rubbed her hands together to warm herself up a little. It was a cold summer evening. He felt the bleakness of the wind. He wanted to ask her if he could do something to help her warming up but he noticed something rushing in his peripheral vision. As he turned his head, he saw nothing. Only a few people who stood behind a barrier the police had built up. He shook his head to banish these thoughts until they heard it.

The sound of squealing tires echoed through the small ally. When they looked back, they saw a black car driving towards their direction with immense speed. It finally halted only five meters away from their place. A group of three men was finally revealed as they walked towards the police officers. The moment Chizuru saw the group, she exchanged confused glances with Hideyoshi. She recognized the uniform of the strangers. Only one organization in this country possessed such a uniform.

The _SOC._

Chizuru looked closer at the newcomers. Her gaze wandered first to the bespectacled man with long brown hair who did not take the trouble to bind his hair together. A faint smile graced his lips. Around his eyes she could see dark circles that showed much tiredness. He seemed to be a very busy man, she thought. Nevertheless, he made a sympathetic impression to her.

Beside him walked a tall man with short black hair and stern lilac eyes that seemed to bore themselves deep into her soul. She had the feeling he could read her thoughts as he stared at her with this venomous gaze that sent shivers down her spine. Shuddering, she let her shift wander to the last one who possessed short lilac hair with azure blue eyes radiating silence.

The man with black hair looked at the two before he cleared his throat as they came to a halt.

"Are you the responsible officers ?"

"Yes we are."

It was Hideyoshi who answered the question with a frown. His face showed his confusion for their arrival. He seemed to have no clue why they were here, Chizuru did not either. The man gave Hideyoshi a form which he took in his hands and gazed at it for a short while. But he did not read it. Instead, he looked up to the man.

"What is this ?" The man before him sighed. "This is an instruction from our responsible commander. He demands that the police leave this case to the SOC"

Hideyoshi nearly choked. He could not believe his first case would be handed over to the SOC. He did not want such a thing. His gaze wandered to Chizuru who remained silent before he continued.

"Can I first see your mark ?" The man nodded and gave him his mark. On it, you could see his name and his position in the SOC as a high officer. "Hijikata Surugi_,_ I am sorry but I can´t give you the permission without speaking with my chief. You have to-"

"This isn´t necessary. We already have the permission." It was the lilac haired guy who talked and stepped forward to give them another document. This time, it was Chizuru who took it. As their hands met, she felt how cold his fingers were although it was summer. She read over it and noticed this was indeed an instruction from their chief.

"Hideyoshi, I think they´re right. We should go." He looked at her in disbelief. "Chizuru-chan, what are you talking about ?" She only shook her head and bowed deeply in front of them. "Please, excuse his rudeness. He doesn´t know what he is saying." The man named Hijikata only shook his head, showed her she had no reason to worry.

"If you excuse us." With his blunt words, he walked together with his companions to the corpse of the man and they began their investigation. Chizuru sighed in relief. The situation could not turn out worse, since they had not done anything that was out of line. But then, she looked to Hideyoshi who seemed to be upset. As their gazes met, she frowned.

"Why did you do this ?" He looked at her with a gaze that showed her how unhappy he was about the whole situation. She sighed. "I did it because we can´t deny orders or act rude in front of the SOC. They stand above us in authority."

"But this don´t give you the right to speak for _me_!" She saw how he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He walked in the direction of the car, but before he entered it, he looked back. "I think we are done with this. Let´s go to the office." With some hesitation, she followed him and entered the vehicle. He started the motor and drove away.

They did not see the pair of red eyes that looked after them.

~xXx~

A soft breeze infiltrated the room through the open window, invaded it in its cool embrace, played with the long brown hair of the girl which was tied into a ponytail and fell over half of her back, emphasized her huge eyes that were reading a file. The desk she was sitting on was large, so she had enough space for her work. Even a computer could be seen on her right side while on the other one, a stack of paperwork was set up. The sound of light footsteps echoed against the walls of the room, accompanied by a steady breathing, announced the presence of another person.

"What are you doing, Chizuru-chan ?" It was her partner Hideyoshi who leaned against the chair Chizuru was sitting and looked over her shoulder to see the file she was reading. He scanned it quickly and frowned. "Are you sure you want to continue working on this case ?" She nodded as she scrolled to the next page, not taking her eyes from the paper. "Yes, there are things that concern me."

"But you know we are not allowed to work on it, right ?" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. A short pause averaged through the silence as she laid the file down and turned around in her chair. He saw how she bit on her bottom lip and pressed them together to a thin line. "You have a point. Please, don´t tell anyone." Before she spoke, she stood up from her chair, clapped her hands together and bowed lightly. Confused by her behavior, the only thing he did was rub his head and look to the side embarrassed.

"If you promise you´ll go out with me this Friday, I can think about it." A faint smile formed on her lips as she jumped in his arms and hugged him. "Thank you!" She was relieved he would not betray her. Now she could work on the case for a longer time. She was so happy that she did not hear the footsteps that abruptly stopped in their tracks as the third person saw the sight of the pair.

"My my, Hide-kun. What do you think you´re doing ?" It was a girl with long grayish-brown hair she had tied together like Chizuru´s and lilac eyes who looked at them amused. It was not rare to see them being so familiar. They were like brother and sister to each other and everyone in the station knew it. She saw how Hideyoshis cheeks flushed as he tried to push Chizuru to the side. "You know she just hugged me Sen. There is nothing behind this, really."

Sen only folded her arms in front of her chest to show him she did not believe him. Chizuru was finally made aware of her presence and looked in her direction.

"O-Sen-chan!" She rushed to the side of her friend. "Where had you been when we drove to the crime scene ? I was looking for you."

"I am sorry Chizuru-chan, but Kondo-san asked me if I could stay in the office to do some paperwork." She showed to a stack of paper on her desk and Chizuru nodded.

"I see."

"What happened ?" Now, no one could hold Chizuru back as she started her explanation. "We have a strongly beaten, blood drained corpse and no murder weapon." This was the moment where Sen frowned. "Blood drained ? A vampire ?" The two of them giggled alone at the thought, knowing they there were no vampires in the world. Hideyoshi rolled his eyes. Women could be really taxing.

"Yukimura-kun."

The voice of her chief echoed through the room. She turned around and she saw him walking in her direction as he came to a halt in front of her. She tended her head to the side in question. "Can I help you, Kondo-san ?"

"Your brother called and asked when you will come home this time."

At his words she only sighed. She lived in an apartment next to her brother´s for a year now. It was after the instruction of their father who still was worried about her safety. This part of the city could be very dangerous. But she never feared the place she lived, no, she loved it. It was true there were murders and rapes all around, but she was a policewoman. She was strong enough to defend herself, even if her father and brother doubted this. With her service weapon, she did not feel weak. She raised her head and answered.

"Can I call him ?" Kondo nodded in her direction. "I think it´s better if you clear up things with him. It´s not good when he calls every time in worry for you." Chizuru knew he was right. She had to talk to her brother, convince him she was okay and that sshe did not need his protection. With a small smile, Kondo patted her on her back to encourage her before he turned around to walk back to his office. He had many things to do as the chief of this station so she did not say anything to his fast departure.

As she looked to the other direction, she saw Sen and Hideyoshi were still arguing. She decided this was the best time to make a call. The young woman took out her mobile-phone, dialed his number and held it on her ear. For mere seconds, she heard the sound of the selected keys before her brother received her call.

"_Don´t you know how late it is, Chizuru ? You should be home already."_

"I am sorry Kaoru-san. But there is this one case-" He did not wait for her to finish her sentence as he interrupted her.

"_This one case doesn´t interest me, dear sister. Come home. I´ll be waiting for you."_ His words showed he did not leave her any room of freedom. Chizuru sighed. In the end, she regretted calling him.

"Alright. I´ll be there in an hour."

"_Good. Don´t be late."_ With this, he hung up. Chizuru put her phone back in her pocket, still thinking what to do. She wanted so badly to know more about this case, but she was not allowed to poke her nose into it because the SOC took their case away like Hideyoshi said earlier. But this did not prevent her from working on it.

She had made a decision.

With a firm step, she walked to her desk and took the documents in her bag. She had them copied after they arrived secretly. She would work on them as soon as she was home, where no one could disturb her. Chizuru put her jacket on and was about to leave, but she saw that Sen and Hideyoshi had finished their discussion and were now looking at her.

"You are leaving at this time, Chizuru ?" She could hear deep worry in Sen´s voice. It was uncharacteristic of her to leave so early. The girl forced a smile on her lips. "You know, my brother called for me and he wants me to come home."

"Oh, so he is controlling you like always." Chizuru frowned at Hideyoshis dry comment and tried to ignore it. "No, he isn´t controlling me. He only worries for me."

"If you say so." She knew he was not convinced by her words, but to her luck he did not say more as she waved to them. "See you tomorrow." The two said their goodbyes and she left the office.

* * *

In the middle of the night a lonely figure walked through the empty streets, covered in a black cloak, only guided by the light of the lanterns that stood on each side and showed the way he had to go. The sky was covered with numerous stars as he looked up, let his gaze wander around to the full moon, that illuminated his eyes in a pale blue light. A strong wind came up, played with his short hair the moment he stopped, let his gaze wander to the ally on his right side. Darkness ruled the small path, let no light come in. Without hesitation, he turned to the corner to walk through the bordering ally. It was very dark, but he had no problems seeing something thanks to his sharp eyesight.

After some time, he reached the place where he was awaited by a man who looked at him frowning. He had a bald head, dark skin and was smoking a cigarette. As he saw him walking further, he took out a deep breath and let the smoke flow in his direction.

"Are you Alpha ?"

He stared at him, before he nodded. The bald man smiled pleasantly as he reached for a suitcase he had placed beside him and opened it. With a quick movement, he held it in front of him, showed the content to the man in the cloak.

"These are ten million Yen. Where is it ?" Alpha reached in his pocket and took out a small pack with white content which he showed to him. The man closed the suitcase and stretched his hand out for the pack. "Give it to me."

The two exchanged the things, before Alpha turned around. After his business, he had to return home immediately. It was a long and draining day and the only thing he wanted was to sleep on his comfortable bed. He was about to walk further when he heard it. Many footsteps approached until he was surrounded by strange men. They looked at him with malicious gazes. Without any sign on his face that he had even recognized the danger, he turned around to the bald man with a smirk.

"I think this means all of this was just a trap." He seemed not to be surprised in any way as he looked at the man who frowned deeper. "Are you not surprised ?"

"No, I knew from the very beginning this was a trap to lure me out." The eyes of the man widened lightly, before he took out the cigarette, threw it to the ground and began to laugh. It had to be a bad joke that he came even though he knew this was a trap for him. "And why did you come in the first place ?"

Alpha smiled.

"I wanted to see if you are able to kill me."

The bald man gritted his teeth. He felt as if he would only joke with him, it made him angry. With a stern gaze, he raised his hand and gave the signal for the attack. The noise of firing guns could be hear, the moment numerous bullets hit their target and a body was falling to the ground. A cry of excitement was heard as the bald man stormed to him.

"Is he dead ?"

He knelt down next to him, stretched out his hand to see if he was still alive. But before he could do it, the man on the ground grabbed his hand with a strong grip and broke his wrist. The man cried out in pain, before he felt something hot eating its way through his skin. As he looked to his hand, he saw his skin was burning.

"W-What the..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt how the flame took over and burned his entire body. He died instantly. In fear, the other men saw how their leader turned to ash. Alpha only looked with bored eyes at the ash, before his gaze wandered to the men.

"Who is next ?"

~xXx~

"You´ve overdone it."

Was the dry comment from his partner as Alpha took down his perforated cloak and faced the other man with his back. He already got the report of what happened just an hour ago to those men who tried to kill his partner and these news were something he wanted to avoid. Even if he found it interesting how many people tried to kill Alpha in the last months, it was not good to cause a stir at all.

"Can´t you just shut up ?" Was the response of Alpha as he opened a cupboard to search for a new shirt His old one was ruined now. The other man folded his arms in front of his chest. "You know it isn´t good if others find out what happened. It could be that eventually _they _will show up."

After he changed, he turned around with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you really think they´ll know what really happened to them ? I don´t think they are such smart guys."

The other man frowned.

"Is this again one of your silly jokes, Souji ?" With a grin he folded his arms behind his head as he walked in the direction of his partner. "My my Hajime-kun. You know we should call ourselves by our code names." This time Saito sighed before he pushed his body from the wall and passed Souji. The moment he was next to him, he spoke. "Are you not the one who broke three of our rules without being killed ?" Souji chuckled.

"You have a point. But you know, not even our Oni Fukucho has a chance against my charm~." While Saito stared at him in lack of understanding, Souji grinned from ear to ear. He knew that he admired their Fukucho more than he would admit to others and it was always good to tease him about it.

"What bullshit are you talking about ?" The two men stiffened as they heard the low voice of their Fukucho who seemed not to be in best mood. Souji was the one who recovered first and turned around to greet the black haired man with a smile. "Are, Hijikata-san. What a surprise to see you around so early."

"I don´t like to repeat myself." It was clear that Hijikatas mood was more than bad, but this did not prevent Souji from provoking him further. "We we´re just talking about something that we both don´t understand."

"And what is that ?"

Hijikata regretted to have asked for it as he saw the devilish smile of his subordinate.

"We don´t understand what ´_rumbling sound, eyeless, shaking endlessly it foams from the mouth´_ means. Can you explain it to us ?" He was satisfied with how Hijikatas head began to glow in an angry red. "Where is it ?"

"Where is what ?" Souji asked innocently.

He opened his mouth to say something in return but closed it again as he saw the confused look on Saito´s face. It was clear he wanted to know about what they were talking about. Hijikata sighed deeply. He shot a venomous glare to Souji´s direction before he turned around to leave the room. With a confident smirk, Souji turned around to leave as well. He was tired from the long day and wanted nothing more than to lie down on his bed to sleep until the next afternoon. He looked one last time to Saito before he spoke.

"See you tomorrow Hajime-kun." He passed door after door until he stood in front of his room. Quickly, he entered it and walked towards his cupboard where he looked for a towel.

_A shower is the best thing to remove all the blood_, he thought as he looked down to see the red liquid still clinging on his body. It was not a good feeling at all. With this thought in mind, he took a towel before he entered the bordered bathroom and closed the door.


	3. Chapter 2

**Thank** **you for the** **reviews! Enjoy!  
**

_Chapter 2_

Days passed in which Chizuru was occupied with minor cases while she worked secretly on the one the SOC had shown interest in. No matter what Hideyoshi said to her, he could not hold her back with her investigation. Generally, she was a curious person who wanted to know everything when it came to things she did not know. So it was this time. When she got home, she would not stop with her research until late in the night to awake the next day tired. But this was something she did not pay much attention, was the solution of the case her only goal.

The moment she entered her car to drive home from work, she thought again about the murder which occupied her completely. It was as if she was obsessed from it even if she did not know the reason for it. Every single moment she had, she thought about the things which was not clear for her, longing for the answers she wanted, no, _had to_ get. It was like an urge she had to nurse. From her research, she knew that it had to be one culprit, showed the traces they found and what she read in the file nothing about another person who could be involved. Another thing was that she knew it was not the first one in the city who was murdered this way. There were more than twenty other cases in which the victim did not have blood in his body. There had to be a connection, she thought.

The big question was why ?

Why were all the corpses drained of blood ? No matter how often she thought about it, there was no reason why someone should bother himself to steal blood. It was more easy to steal blood from a hospital than to kill someone for it. It made no sense to her. Furthermore, there was the question if the murderer was really a cannibal. She saw all the bite wounds on the neck of the man which showed her the ruthless violence which cannibals showed towards their victims. But their was another question.

Why was nothing of the corpse being eaten ?

Normally, a cannibal would eat the flesh of his victim, but in this case he did not. Then, there was the question why the SOC was interested in this case. She knew no other case in which they were involved before, and now they showed up out of nowhere and took it away from the police. What was the meaning behind this ? She was about to think about it further as her mobile-phone began to ring. As she looked at the screen, she saw the name of her friend Sen. The moment the car halted in front of a traffic light, she hold it on her ear.

"_Chizuru-chan ?" _The high voice of her friend could be heard on the other end of the line. While her eyes were still fixed on the traffic, she replied. "Yes, O-Sen-chan ?"

"_Are you free today ? I wanted to go to the Shopping Mall."_ Chizuru was surprised by her request, but this did not prevent her from wondering what the reason was for Sen to ask her so suddenly. It was not like her that she asked her out of nowhere to go out. But as she thought about it, she knew she had time. It was a Friday afternoon and that meant she had not much to do. "Yeah, I can go with you." She could almost hear the smile from Sen as she received her confirmation.

"_Okay, then we will meet at three."_

Ten minutes later, she reached her destination as she drove the car to the parking lot near the entrance of the apartment complex. It was always her dream to live on her own without help from her father who possessed several companies. Twenty years ago, he had a new business idea which made him rich in the end. Nevertheless, he decided that Kaoru should live next to her flat to watch over her which unnerved her, could she do nothing about it. By this thought, she sighed deeply as she remembered last night as she came too late for his liking. He had scolded her and told her when she did this again, he would take countermeasures, even if she did not know what he meant by that. But one thing she knew for sure:

She did not want to find it out.

Chizuru left the car, closed the door carefully behind and walked a few steps to let her gaze wander to the apartment block she could see not so far away. She had now only one hour left until she would meet up with Sen. But until then, she had many things to do which forced her to hurry.

She entered the building and climbed up the stairs until she reached the fourth floor. As she opened the door to her apartment, she was greeted by a tidy looking corridor. On the right side, stood a shoe cabinet in which she placed her shoes. Above it, was a big mirror which showed half of her body and besides it you could see a wardrobe. She hung her jacket on the wardrobe and entered the living room. The moment she stepped in, she saw her cat walking in her direction, rubbing on her right leg while she purred. Chizuru smiled as she saw her little friend and knelt down.

"Are you happy to see me ?" The cat answered with a meow as she rubbed her leg with more force which brought Chizuru to laugh. "I know, I know. You are hungry. Please wait a second."

She walked in the kitchen and prepared some cat food, which she filled in a bowl, and milk for her beloved pet and placed it in front of the animal. The cat began to drink the milk with content while Chizuru entered again the kitchen to prepare some food for herself. She was very hungry. As she opened the fridge, she found instant noodles which needed not so many time. It was perfect for her. While she put the noodles in the microwave, she opened the window in the living room to bring fresh air in the sticky room. For a short moment, she let her gaze wander around. Her gaze stopped at a suspicious man who walked away from his spot as she discovered him.

With a frown, she leaned back and watched how he entered a car and drove away.

Her mind was for several minutes trained on him as she heard the sound of the microwave which told her her meal was ready. She left the window and took it out. After she ate her instant noodles, she began to prepare herself for her Shopping trip with Sen. She opened the wardrobe in her bedroom and was almost slayed from the variety of clothing she had. How should she find anything on this way ? Wondering if she was able to find something she could wear, she spent most of her time with looking for the right clothing she had distributed on her bed as the bell rang. Chizuru looked up from her dilemma, not sure if she should go and open the door when she had barely time. But as the bell rang again, she decided it was the best to look who it was, could it be that it was something important. She walked to the door and opened it, only to reveal her brother Kaoru.

"Kaoru ?"

She was so surprised to see him that she dropped the _-san_ from his name what he seemed to notice after some seconds as his mouth twisted to a grimace.

"Yeah, its me. I need your car."

"My car ?" She did not know why she acted like this in front of him, but it seemed to unnerve him as he sighed deeply and a frown formed on his face. "Yes, your car. Can you give me the key ?"

"But why ?"

"This is none of _your_ business." Completely stunned by the coldness of his voice, she reached for the key in her pocket and gave it to him. With a firm nod, he took it and left while Chizuru stared after him.

~xXx~

Chizuru ran over the asphalt while her lungs pained from the lack of air they received, was her breath too fast to get enough of the essential oxygen. She felt how her heart raced at full speed while her legs ached from the unusual stress. In a few minutes, the bus should arrive and she was far away from her destination. When she came too late, she had to think about another opportunity to reach the Shopping Mall.

It was an option she did not want.

Only moments later, she could see the bus passing her, driving in the direction where she was heading. It was wide more earlier than she had expected. With all her strength, she tried to run faster to made it in time. There was no way she could miss it. With wide more speed, she reached the bus halt and entered the vehicle. Exhausted, she leaned with her back against the rail which brought her an annoyed gaze from the bus driver. After she had recovered, she paid him and looked for a place where she could sit. To her regret, almost all seats were taken but then she spotted the last free seat near the last line.

There sat a man with brown hair and dark orbs who was looking out the window. She noticed that he possessed a different aura from the other passengers. There was something which told her she should not involve herself with him any longer. Chizuru placed herself beside him, trying hard not to look at him. To her luck, he seemed to ignore her for what she was grateful.

After twenty minutes, the bus stopped at the Shopping Mall where she exited the vehicle to look around for Sen. While the parking lot was full crowded with cars, the entrance was nearly empty, were there only a few people who walked in or left. She walked with her bag to the entrance where she stopped to took out her mobile-phone, was this the easiest way to find her friend.

"_Chizuru-chan ?"_ The voice of her friend echoed in her ear while she looked around. "O-Sen-chan. I can´t find you. Where are you ?"

"_I am so sorry Chizuru, but my car has a breakdown and I am waiting for someone to pick me up. I don´t know when I will be there." _Chizuru frowned by her words, was this something she had not expected. "But you are okay ?"

"_Yes, I am alright. Oh there is someone coming for me. See you."_ With this words, she hang up. Chizuru stared for several minutes at the mobile-phone, not knowing what to do. Should she just stay here and wait for Sen or should she do something different ? Sighing, she took her mobile-phone back in her pocket and walked to a bench to sit down. After she found a comfortable position, she let her gaze wander to the blue sky, regarding the clouds passing by.

The sun was burning down her head, heating her up and let her sweat. But to her luck, a soft breeze was kissing her cheeks and let her cool down a little. It was a good feeling to be at the outside when the weather was good. Chizuru did not know how long she sat there watching the sky but one thing she knew for sure. She was getting tired. With much force, she tried to hold back a yawn but in the end, it came out. Yawning, she stretched her body and closed her eyes before she took again a comfortable position. She felt how her head got more and more heavy as she heard a soft voice which brought her back to reality.

"...and eliminate him."

As she opened her eyes, she saw in the distance a group of men who wore black robes talking about something she could not figure out. Only this three words she could understand. Did they really want to kill someone ? Was it not her duty to stop this ? Or did they mean something different ? She decided it was the best when she find it out on herself. Chizuru stood up from her place and began to walk slowly in the direction of the men while she tried not to be spotted by them.

"Chizuru-chan!" She was only fifteen meters away from them as she heard the voice of Sen calling her name. The young woman stopped in her tracks and turned around to see her standing not so far away waving at her. Immediately, Sen rushed to her side with her bag around her shoulder with a wide smile which graced her lips.

"I am so sorry for being late. But you know what happened to my car." She apologized to her with a faint smile before she took her hands in hers and began to drag her to the entrance.

"Let´s start shopping!" She cried out in excitement while Chizuru let her drag her along. While she walked, she turned again her head in the opposite direction, where she saw that the men were gone.

* * *

The room he was in was illuminated by the light of candles which pinned his shadow on the wall while he sat behind his desk. He looked down to his hands where he hold a package with white content, gazing at it with small green eyes. It was in the middle of the night and everyone was asleep, only he was awake. But this did not bother him, was he too busy to open the package and distribute its content over the desk. Then, he took a small paper and rolled it together. Before he could do more, a knock could be hear.

"Come in."

The door opened, revealed Saito who walked to the desk he was sitting and looked down to what his partner was doing. With a frown, he came to a halt. Sighing, Souji turned around in his chair.

"What is it that you have to disturb me ?" Saito ignored his comment and answered. "You know that drugs aren´t good for your body." With rolling eyes, Souji folded his arms in front of his chest. "And you know that this isn´t any of your business. So, what´s up ?" With a deep sigh, Saito looked down to his partner.

"You have a new mission."

This was the moment where the light reappeared in Soujis eyes. He could not deny that he liked his job, was it something which distracted him from all his problems he had to manage. With a foxy grin, he stood up from his chair.

"Alright, then I think it is the best for me to go until our Oni Fukushou gets angry." With this words, he took his new black robe and left the room.

* * *

"Bye Chizuru-chan! See you tomorrow."

The two friends waved their goodbyes as they stood in front of the gate of the Shopping Mall which meant the end of their trip. It was a long and fatiguing day, but they had got what they wanted and wore their shopping bags over their shoulder. The sun was already disappeared behind the mountains, greeting the night which took in its place.

With a content expression on her face, Chizuru looked one last time back to her friend before she began to walk in the opposite direction like Sen did some seconds ago. While Sen went to the place where her car was repaired, Chizuru walked to the next bus halt, had Kaoru still her car in his possession. In this moment, she thought back to her last encounter with her brother. No matter what she did, he was treating her not as his sister. It was as if he would regard her more as his enemy than as his sibling which occupied her. She wanted nothing more than that he treated her like he did in the past.

Kind, concerned and considerate.

All of these things he was before their mother was killed. After her death, he changed. He occupied himself with his work more than that he did something he really liked. Other than that, he quit his judo training and isolated himself from her and their father. At the beginning of his odd behavior, she tried to reach him by talking with him, but he was already too distant from her so nothing she did work. Chizuru shook her head to banish her thoughts and continued her walk to the bus halt.

~xXx~

After a while, the bus reached its destination. The station was nearly empty, was it very late, but she knew she could take the last bus. She was about to go to line four where she would drive to Kyoto, as she saw something strange. A man sat in a corner of line three, holding his stomach and gasping for air. With her trained eyes, she saw something was wrong with him. With the policewoman in her, she immediately walked in his direction, not sensing the danger which was radiating from him. As she walked closer, she saw that the man had a strange hair-color. It was white like snow.

"Excuse me, can I help you ?"

It seemed the man had only this moment registered her presence as he raised his head. He stared at her with his glimmering red eyes with let her shudder, remembered it her of blood. Their gazes were stuck together for several seconds, before he tended his head to the side.

"No, you can´t. Just go."

She was not satisfied with his answer as she knelt down in front of him to touch his pale skin with her right hand to sense his temperature. But before she could reach him, he grasped her hand with an iron-like grip, staring at her unnerving.

"I said you should just _go_." he hissed harshly which let her frown. „What is your problem ?" She asked him in return. This time, he was the one who frowned. Then, his eyes got a nuance darker. He opened his mouth to answer her question as she heard several footsteps approaching, before a man shouted.

"Get outta the way, woman!"

Chizuru turned around to see the group of strange men she saw at the Shopping Mall standing there who wore protective clothing and guns which they were holding in the direction of both. It remembered her of a special force. She was surprised and shocked at the same time, she could not believe why they were threaten a wounded man. But before she could think about it any longer, she heard again the man shouting.

"I said, get out of the way!"

In the next moment, she heard how a gun fired. She saw how the bullet came closer and closer, until it was too near to dodge it. At this time, she wondered what had happened when she would not want to help the man. Would then everything be better ? Or had she the chance to live ? No, this was wrong. When she did not go to him, he would be the one who died. It was only naturally that she could not make something better in her bad situation. She had made her decision to help him and now she had to carry the consequences. Moments before the bullet would hit her heart, she closed her eyes and awaited the pain.

But there was no pain.

Instead, she felt how she was pushed to the side roughly from someone before she heard gasp of surprise. Then, the bullet hit a body. But it was not hers. As she opened her eyes, she saw the white-haired man caught the bullet with the back of his transformed claw-like hand. The armed men stared at him with fear as they fired more bullets at him, but he caught all of them as if it were nothing special.

"H-He is definitely a monster."

One of the men spoke out in shock as he looked how the bullets melted away in his claws as fire took over his body. She stared at his back as more and more flames enveloped him and his white hair wiped in the wind. The fire radiated a strong heat which covered him, brought her to protect her eyes from the light which appeared beside the warmth. After some moments, the light disappeared, while the man stood at the same spot, still surrounded by flames. The commander of the unit paled by the sight, tried hard to composure his mind.

"D-Don´t chicken out! Kill them!"

With his words, the men surrounded both, aiming for the man and her which let her eyes widen in disbelief. Why were they now after her ? She had done nothing! Chizuru gulped as she let her gaze wander around and saw the guns which were meant for her.

"Do you want to live ? Or do you accept your fate ?"

A mans voice whispered to her, let her gaze wander around, looking for the source of the voice, but there was nobody. Frowning, she tried to concentrate again on the current situation as she heard the voice again, this time more impatiently.

"I asked you one question."

Now, she recognized the voice as the one of the man who stood in front of her. With a puzzled expression, she regarded his back. Should she give him an answer ? She looked down to her hands and thought about what she could do. One thing was sure: She did not want to die. There were so many things she wanted to do in her life so it was too early for her. As she looked up, she saw still his back. He was not even bothering to look at her while she thought about her answer. She took a deep breath before she spoke out what was on her mind.

"I want to live."

The commander of the men looked at her with a confused expression, had he clearly heard her words, even if he could not figure out what she meant by that, had he not heard the words the man had spoken. The grin of the man in front of her, which she could not see due to her position, widened. This was the moment he looked back to her with an unreadable expression.

"Alright. When this is your decision."

He smiled at her. It was a beautiful smile. Again, he turned his head to the men in front of him and raised his right hand. Before he could do more, she heard how the guns fired and closed her eyes while a tear ran down her cheek. She had expected to feel pain during her death, but again, there was nothing. The only thing which happened was the screams she heard from the men. As she opened her eyes, she saw in horror how the bodies of the men burnt down while they screamed in agony.

"T-This is impossible..."

While the bodies of his comrades turned to ashes, the commander of the group was the only one who was left. Chizuru watched how the man in front of her began to walk slowly in the direction of the last survivor. Something in her knew what would happen to him and there was the strong urge in her to stop him. She was after all a policewoman and it was her duty to protect the people. But the man who would die wanted to kill them first...

What should she do ?

Chizuru pressed her lips together as she thought about it. She was aware that she had no time to think so she did what she had to do. With much force she tried to move, but her legs refused their job as if they were glued on the spot. What was happening with her, she wondered as she looked to her legs, trying hard to move them. As she looked up again, she saw that he had nearly reached the man. There was no way she could waste more time. Without thinking, she stood up and sprinted in his direction to take position in front of the white-haired man who froze in place, taken aback by surprise. Now, she could see again his ruby eyes which pierced themselves in her brown ones after he recovered.

"What are you doing ?" The deep voice of him asked her in a demanding tone which let her body shudder. She had never heard before such a cold voice. While she tried to regain her composure, she answered with a hopefully strong voice. "I am just trying to prevent you from killing him. It is not right to kill!"

The man in front of her raised an eyebrow in confusion. It seemed that no one before did what she did now. But it become more worse as he chuckled and looked at her with these red eyes which showed her who was stronger between both.

"Do you really think _you_ could stop me ?" She knew it was a rhetorical question and that he did not expect an answer, but this did not prevent her from speaking. "When not I stop you, nobody will."

Silence expanded between the two, while they simply ignored the other man who was froze from fear. It was a staring battle where no one was willed to give up. In the next moment, she felt a hand on her throat and how she was raised from the ground by him.

"You have some guts, but this isn´t enough to stop me."

Then, she felt the fire leaking on her neck while she tried to scream, but he prevented it by pressing her throat more together, let her gasp for air. She felt how the oxygen escaped her parted lips and the pain got stronger and stronger from the heat of the flames. Was he not the one who asked her if she wanted to live ? Why was he now killing her ? With all the strength she had left, she forced out the next words.

"W-Why...? Y-You asked me if I want to live." His eyes hardened before his wicked grin reappeared.

"Even if I asked you that, did you really think I would let you go after what you witnessed ? I know you would talk about it when someone torture you."

Her eyes widened in shock as she felt how her oxygen came to an end and her lungs screamed for new air. No, she did not want to die! While he hold her, she tried to reach for the gun in her pocket. Even if she knew that bullets did not have the wished effect on him, this was the only thing she could do. She reached for her gun and took it quickly out. He seemed to know what she wanted to do as he saw her gun and reached with his free hand for it. In panic, she laid her finger on the trigger and shot in his right arm. This time, the bullet hit its target which surprised her as she saw how it flew through his arm and hit the ground. A twisted grimace could be seen on his face as he looked at his arm in pain.

"You will regret this." he murmured.

He just wanted to finish her off as he saw a movement in his peripheral vision. As he turned his head, he saw the man who survived all this mess was trying to escape by running. With an unnerved sigh, he let go of her. She fell to the ground on her butt, coughing roughly and holding her pained neck on which you could see strangulation marks. Her vision was blurry for a short time until she could see clearer. Trembling, she picked up her gun which fall to the ground as he let her go and looked around to see where he was.

Then, she heard again a scream.

In panic, she looked in the direction to see how he killed the last survivor of the special force and watched how his victim turned to ash. He turned his head around before he began to walk back to her. With shaking fingers, she raised her gun and hold it in the direction of his head. When he would come too near, she would shoot. As he was only two meters away from her, he stopped, looking down at her with those foreboding red eyes. She felt how her heart pondered painfully in her chest and sweat covered her forehead as he stretched out his hand.

He was about to kill her.

She laid her finger on the trigger, ready to kill him first as he suddenly hesitated and looked at his right. Curious about why he hesitated, she did the same but there was nobody. As she looked again in his direction, she saw that he was disappeared. She lowered her gun and looked for a long time at the spot where the man stood some moments ago, not able to believe what she just witnessed. Is this just really happened ? Or was this only her own imagination ? As she let her gaze wander to the ash on the ground, she knew the answer. With shaking fingers, she took her gun away in her pocket and stood up from her kneeling position.

In the same moment the bus arrived.


	4. Chapter 3

**Again, a big thanks to the ones who left a review. You guys are great! **

_Chapter 3_

With a blank expression she sat in her chair, looking at the file in front of her while her head hung limp. Her eyes were glassy, showed nothing of her courage she normally had, as she remembered Friday nights incident where she saw how this guy killed all the men merciless.

It was a terrible memory.

He did not even hesitate to try to kill her. If he had not gone, she was sure she would be dead now. A shudder went down her spin as she remembered back his bloody red eyes which seemed to stare into her mind and see what she was up to do. Then there was the point that no one would believe her when she would talk about this. She was part of the police and she knew that they would think she had too much stress when she would talk about a man who could produce fire with his body. But when she was honest with herself, she knew that even she would not believe such a story.

Sighing, she took the file down and turned to her computer where she scrolled through the files to search for something which could serve her as distraction. After a while she found an interesting case and read through it.

"Chizuru-chan ?" It was the voice of Sen which brought her back to reality. As she looked up, she saw her friend standing beside her desk with a worried expression on her face. A hopefully confident smile formed on her lips as she stopped her doings and looked at her friend. "Is something wrong, O-Sen-chan ?"

"You are too quiet since you arrived this morning. Are you okay ?" Chizuru did not know how she should respond to this question. But as she looked deeper in the pleading eyes of her friend, she decided it was the best to lie at her. She did not want that she worried more about her. "It´s nothing O-Sen-chan. I think I am just tired because I was up till the morning. I am fine." Sen believed no word.

"Chizuru, please don´t lie at me. I know that something is wrong with you." She felt immediately bad for trying to lie at her friend and thought if she should tell her the truth about her encounter with the man whose memory was still in her head. But would she believe her ? Or would she find her story too crazy ? With a deep sigh, she decided that she should tell it to her and was glad that Hideyoshi had his free day. He would for sure not believe her.

"O-Sen-chan, after we parted from the Shopping Mall I encountered something really... strange." She heard how Sen took a chair to hear better her story, and saw her smile to encourage her to continue. "It was at the station where I saw..." Before she could proceed with her story, they both heard a commotion coming from the office of their chief. With a frown, Chizuru stood up from her chair and looked confused at the door which pushed open the next moment.

And revealed a man.

He possessed short brown hair and emerald green eyes which were looking around the room, inspecting its furniture and people. In a strange way, it seemed that she knew him, even if this was the first time she saw this man. As she looked closer, she saw a bandage on his right arm.

It was the same arm where she had shot the man three days ago.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at him. Now where she looked closer, she saw that he remembered her a lot of the man she met last Friday who killed all the people. Could it be that he really was the one ? He did not even have white hair or red eyes. He seemed to feel her stare. As he raised his head and met her eyes, she knew it was him. In the next moment, all color disappeared from her face and she hold back her breath which he commented with a smirk.

While Sen was impressed by the pretty boy, she felt how her heart beat more and more quickly and her blood swooshed in her ears. And as if this was not enough, he was walking in their direction. She felt how her body shook and her legs wanted to give in by the weight they had to carry and how her vision began to blur. The moment she was about to collapse, she felt a strong grip on her arm which caught her and prevented her from hitting the ground.

"Chizuru-chan!" Sens scream echoed in her ears, but the only thing she did was trying to regain her sight which was still blurry. In front of her, was a face which was indeed too near for her liking, but as her sight got more clear and she saw _who_ it was, she froze.

"You can be really clumsy, nee ?"

He was staring down at her with a gaze which showed nothing of the coldness he showed to her this fateful night. No, it was almost _friendly_. A smile graced his lips as he stared with his green eyes in her brown ones which let her shudder.

"Chizuru-chan. Are you alright ?" Their connection broke apart by Sens words as the man lifted her up, was she still hanging in his arms, and positioned her on the ground. The moment she stood firmly on her own feet, she immediately drew back from him as if she had burnt her hands. "H-Hai. I´m fine." While she answered, she stared at the man in front of her with a suspicious gaze as if she would await him killing her. Sen seemed not to notice the tense atmosphere as she turned her body in the direction of the stranger.

"Ano, can we help you with something..." Just this moment, she noticed that she did not know his name. He smiled. "You can call me Okita."

"Then Okita-san ?" She smiled back at him as if she would talk to a longtime friend and he replied it. "Yes, you can indeed help me because I am new in this job."

The time seemed to stand still by his words as she realized the meaning behind it. He was going to work with them ? Chizuru felt a thick lump building up in her throat as she saw how he watched her from his peripheral vision while he chatted lively with Sen, still with this smile on his face. She felt again the urge to just collapse to the ground but this time she fought against it when she did not want that this happened again. Instead, she began to reach for her gun on her hip. She would not allow this man to hurt her friend in any way with his fire. Seeing this coming, the man named Okita changed his strategy and turned around to her.

"Can I talk to you for a short moment, _Chizuru-chan_ ?" Surprised by his words and that he knew her name, she let her hand slip from her service weapon, but she let never her guard down. With a short gaze to Sen, she decided it was the best when she agreed, if she wanted that Sen was not involved in her affairs.

"I´ll be back soon, O-Sen-chan."

Sen looked at her and him confused before she nodded, had she no problems with their decision. With a thoughtful expression, Chizuru left together with Okita the room. They walked side by side over the corridor without looking into each others eyes while Chizuru kept some distance to Okita. She did not trust him and never knew what he was up to do. It was possible that he would kill her now, was this his best chance, but she knew this would only cause him more problems.

They were after all in a police station.

As they were passing another door, she felt how he dragged her on her shoulder and pushed her in the empty room with much force. It happened too quickly so she lost her balance and collapsed this time, hitting with her head the hard ground. She heard the click of the door and how he closed the window blinds so darkness ruled the place. Then, she heard his footsteps approaching her. Slowly, she stood up from her place and drew back, trying to escape from him. But all her effort was useless as Okita came in front of her to a halt. Even if she could not see him, she could still hear his breath.

"I hate it to repeat myself, but you have really some guts." In the next moment, she felt how his body pressed her against the wall, pushed all the air out of her lungs which let her cough roughly. Then, she felt how he pinned her hands above her head and how his eyes changed again to this deep red she could see, was it shining through the darkness. He stared deep into her eyes which let her froze in the spot. With much force, she tried hard to regain her composure as she spoke.

"W-What are you trying to do ? W-When you kill me you´ll-" Okita stopped her by touching her shoulder. Was he now killing her with his fire ? Or wanted he just make her fear him ? All her anxieties remained unfounded as he simply let his hand rest on her naked skin which radiated warmth. "Do you really think I would be so careless and walk in a police station when I could finish you off just this Friday night without any witnesses ?"

His words were as casual as if he would talk with her about the weather which confused her. What was he up to do, she asked herself.

"Then, tell me why you are here." Okita smiled again, but this time it possessed some dangerous. He let her go and she fall to her knees, had she not the power left to stand, while he rose the window blinds up, let light in and walked in the direction of the door before he answered her question. "I am just here to watch."

"To watch ?" She was perplexed by his answer and watched how he stopped and turned again around, looking at her with his red eyes while she forced herself to stand up. "I am here to see if you will tell anyone about what you witnessed. When you do it..." His next movements were too quick she could not follow as he rammed his fist in the wall only centimeters beside her head, let again flames arose from it.

"...I will burn everyone who knows it with these hands."

* * *

The wind played with his short brown hair as he drove with his motorbike back to the place where he lived together with the other guys. Since a few days they were in the city after they moved from Osaka. Every few months they changed the place for good reasons he recalled just this moment. There was an organization who is looking for them and it could be dangerous when they found out where they lived. But if it were up to him, he would not run away like a terrified animal.

No, he would stay and fight.

Okita hated generally this life, was it not worth living in his mind. But his friends were in the opinion that it was more save to hide in the darkness than to live like normal people. He could not even go out some days or had to take a new identity when he was at the outside. The same he did at the police as he registered himself for the job. He could only hope that no one checked his identity.

A few minutes later, he reached the building, climbed down the vehicle and opened the door of the garage before he entered it. After he parked the motorbike, he went upstairs to head in the direction of the kitchen. Thence, he could already hear voices.

"Oi shorty! Give it to me!"

"No way!"

He heard the screams of Nagakura Shinpachi yelling at the young man named Todou Heisuke, wondering what happened that they were so angry at each other. Souji turned the corner and an amused expression graced his face as he saw the two of them fighting for a book Heisuke was holding. They had already knocked over the table which laid now on the ground while they had more space for their fight. In the other corner, he could see the redhead Harada Sanosuke who looked at them with a grim expression.

"Please you two, calm down. If Hijikata-san finds this out." While Sanosuke seemed to be really annoyed by their behavior, Souji had big problems to hold back a laughter and walked to his side. "What is the reason this time for them to fight ?"

"They found a book from Hijikata-san and want to read it. I don´t think that he will like this." This was the time where Souji recognized it as the Haiku book he had stolen some days ago from Hijikata. The grin on his face widened as he folded his arms in front of his chest and watched them fighting for a while until another person entered the room.

"Okita-kun, Hijikata-san wants to see you." It was Sannan who just spoke while he directed his glass on his nose, ignoring the commotion of the other men. Souji looked at him a little confused before he remembered that he had to report his doings during his first day at the police station. Souji looked one last time back to Shinpachi, Heisuke and Sanosuke. He was sure that Sannan would dissolve this commotion quickly, but he felt not sorry for them. He waved a short goodbye to Sanosuke before he left and walked to Hijikatas office. As he stood in front of it, he knocked.

"Come in."

He opened the door and entered the room where Hijikata was already waiting for him. The older man sat behind his desk, writing something down. But as Souji came closer, he put the pencil to the side and crossed his fingers into each other and looked with a stern gaze to him. Without a word, Souji took the chair which stood in front of the desk and placed himself lazily on it while Hijikata observed all his doings.

"How are things at the station ?" He asked bluntly. Souji did not hesitate as he answered his question. "Good. I am now a policeman and the new partner of the girl who witnessed everything this night. This guy named Kondo did everything what you demanded in the letter." Hijikata seemed to be content with his answer, but the strict gaze never left his face.

"And have you already met her ? Did she recognize you ?"

"Yes, she knows who I am." This time, Hijikata fell silent, thinking about the information he just received from his subordinate while Souji let his gaze wander bored around the room. He did not like it to just sit around and talk with Hijikata. No, he would much rather do something where he could impoverish himself. By this thought, he knew what he would do after this short meeting. A short training session was always good. Hijikata seemed to know his thoughts as he gave him a paper and spoke.

"Be careful with her. Do everything so she doesn´t talk about this incident and kill the people where she do it. You know we can´t need more witnesses." Souji looked shortly at the paper before he asked. „Why I am not allowed to kill her ? This is wide more easy than to watch her."

„I already told you the reason, Souji. Now, you can go." With a defeated sigh, Souji stood up from his chair and took the paper Hijikata was still holding before he went to the door to exit the room as the door pushed open and Sannan walked in. As Souji passed him, he shot to him a warning glare before he walked to Hijikata to give him back his Haiku book he had taken from Shinpachi and Heisuke. The moment Souji saw it, his grin reappeared.

"Bye Bye Hijikata-san, Sannan-san." he said before he left quickly the room.

The moment as Hijikata saw his book he looked up where Souji stood just seconds ago and shouted.

"Souji!"

* * *

Chizuru returned back to the room where her friend Sen was already waiting for her and sat herself down behind her desk. She was still thinking about the words he had spoken and the threat behind it. That he would kill every person who knows about the incident. Alone this thought let her shudder.

_He would kill everyone if I do it_, she thought._ And he would not shrink back to kill me after his massacre._

Again, her body began to shook from fear and sweat started to form on her forehead. Even if he was not present, she could still feel his touch on her shoulder and the abnormally warmth which he radiated. She knew that he was dangerous and unpredictable with his actions. And most of all, the only reason he was here was to watch her. Even if she did not know what he meant by that first, she knew it now.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard footsteps walking in her direction. First, she thought it was Okita and readied herself to took her service weapon which was still on her hip. But as she heard the voice, she knew who it was and let her hand slip from the gun.

"Where is Okita-san ?" Sen asked her as she rushed to her side and placed herself on the edge of her desk. Chizuru looked up to her before she looked to the side, covered her face with her hair. "He is gone."

"Gone ? Where ? And why ?" Chizuru shrugged. "I don´t know. After our conversation he just left." Even if she did not look directly to her friend, she could imagine the frown which graced her face. "But he have to know that work isn´t over now. We should tell him."

Chizuru nearly laughed. As if he would care. The only reason he was here was to watch her to see if she would talk about it. But then, she was the one who frowned. When he should watch over her, why was he not here at the moment ? Not that she missed him, no, she was glad he was not here.

And there was another fact which bothered her.

Why had he not killed her this night ? She knew that it was much more problematic when he go to the police station to work as a new policeman than when he just finished her off. There had to be a good reason behind it, she decided. And she knew she would do everything to find it out.

"I think we should go to Kondo-san and ask him if he can give us his phone number." Sens words brought her back to the current situation. Now, she looked her directly in the face and as she recalled her words, she was more than shocked.

"You really want his phone number ?"

She could not believe what Sen was trying to do. When they called him, who knew how he would react. Would he be angry and kill all of them or would he take it tranquil ? One thing she knew for sure: She did not want to find it out.

"Yes, why not ?" Sen looked at her puzzled what was only normal. She did not know how Okita really was and wanted to befriend him. Generally, Sen was the type of girl who loved it getting to know new people. For her, Okita was one of them. And Chizuru knew she could not do anything against this when she did not want that Sen distrusted her. She forced a smile on her lips and stood up from her chair.

"I think you´re right. Let´s go."

They walked in the office of Kondo and asked him for Okitas number. After a short conversation with him, they got what they wanted and returned back to the room.

"And who call him now ?"

They stood both in front of Chizurus mobile-phone looking down at it, still thinking who it would be who call him. Even if they had now his number, he was still a stranger for both of them. And for Chizuru, he was a murderer. But this was something she could not tell Sen when she wanted that Okita did not kill both of them. Even if he was not here at the moment, she knew that Sen would act suspicious in front of him when she knew the truth. This was something she could not risk.

"I think it´s the best when you tell it him. After all, it was your idea." She saw a faint blush on Sens face. It seemed that there were more reasons for her that she had proposed that they should call him. Chizuru hoped that she would not want from him what she suspected.

"Alright then." With her words, Sen selected his number and they could hear the sound of dialing before he received the call. _"Hello ?"_

"Okita-san. It´s me, Sen." He did not let much time pass as he answered. _"Sen from the police ?"_ She seemed to be glad that he recognized her which Chizuru could tell from the smile on her lips. "Yes, Sen from the police. I wanted to ask you why you´re left." A short pause could be heard on the other of the line. It seemed that he thought about his words carefully.

_"I have to take care of something. Where did you get my phone number ?_"

"I get it from Kondo-san." She could hear that Okita fell again silent. _"Alright. Can you give the mobile-phone to Chizuru-chan for a short moment ? I have to tell her something."_ Sen was confused by his words, but she did what he wanted from her and hold the phone in Chizurus direction.

"Here, Okita-san wants to talk with you."

With a surprised expression on her face, Chizuru took the phone and hold it on her ear. "Okita-san ?"

_"Call me never again or you will regret it." _

With this words, he finished the call. Chizuru stared long at the phone while she thought about his last words as suddenly, Sen spoke. "What did he say ?" She awoke Chizuru from her trance as she answered. "Nothing important." Sen looked at her not very convinced, but she said nothing to it as she continued. "You wanted to tell me something before Okita arrived. Can you tell it me now ?" Chizuru paled by her question and turned her face around so Sen did not see it as Okitas words echoed again in her ears. "I know what you mean, but I have so much to do so I have no time for this. Perhaps later ?"

Sen looked at her disappointed. But to her surprise she nodded. With a last smile, Chizuru walked back to her desk.

~xXx~

She sat on the couch in her flat together with her cat which slept on her lap. Slowly, she caressed the cat with her free hand while she hold with the other one the file from the case she was still working on. It was a mystery to her who killed the man named Daisuke Kenji a week ago. And she knew that she would not give up on it until she knew what happened this night. The moment she read the tenth time through the file, she saw something which she had not seen the other times.

_"...and beside all the bite wounds we found undefined blood which is not from the victim."_

Her eyes widened as she read this. This meant that the blood they found had to be from the murderer. A confident smile graced her face as she laid down the file on the table which stood in front of her. In the morning, she would call the laboratory and demand the analyzed blood to match it with the database.

With this, she could find the solution of the case.


	5. Chapter 4

**Here comes the next chapter. Thank you to all the ones who read and commented this story!**

_Chapter 4_

"Morning Sen-chan, Chizuru-chan." Tiredly, Chizuru looked up from her desk and saw Hideyoshi hanging his jacket on the wardrobe before he walked to his own desk, which stood between Sens and hers, to took a random paper from the stack of paper and sat down on his chair.

"Good morning." She greeted him. With a yawn, she took a sip from her coffee while she heard how Sen replied him too. Since years they were a good team at the station and she hoped that this would never end. But there was one big problem in form of a certain person. With this, she thought back to what happened the day before as _he_ infiltrated the police station. It bothered her he was now a member of their little group and she was sure that their friends would soon discover his true self. Or so she hoped.

Speaking of him, where was he ?

As she let her gaze wander to the big clock which hung over the door, she saw it was past seven. Work had already begun. Even if it was none of her business, she found it rude from him to be late on his second day. After all, he was here to help them with their work and not to sleep till afternoon even if his only goal was to watch her.

"Chizuru-chan, do you know when Okita-san arrives ?" Sens question took her by surprise. But because she did not know it, and more importantly she did not care, the only thing she did was shaking her head as she saw Hideyoshi moving in her peripheral vision. "Who is _Okita-san _?" Then, Chizuru remembered that Hideyoshi was not there as Okita arrived so it was clear why he did not know him. It was Sen who responded.

"He is new in our unit and will be the partner of Chizuru-chan." In the moment Sen spoke, Chizuru was drinking from her coffee. But by her words, she spat everything out while Hideyoshis jaw dropped open.

"Nani!?" The two of them spoke the same word at the same time what was very confusing for Sen. But nevertheless, she recovered quickly and looked at Chizuru. "Didn´t Kondo-san spoke with you about it?"

"No, he didn´t." An awkward silence filled the room for some moments until Hideyoshi spoke. "But Chizuru-chan is my partner. What is Kondo-san thinking ?" This was a really good question for Chizuru, was she not willed to work with this man. Sen seemed to notice the tense atmosphere as she raised her hands in defense. "I think that Kondo-san has a good explanation for this."

"I really hope it for him." Hideyoshi grumbled.

Chizuru could not help but wonder the reason for Kondos doings. It was a mystery to her why she of all people should work with this man who was a murderer. This was something which she could not reconcile with her conscience. Even if the men he killed were bad people, this did not matter in her mind.

A human life was a human life.

And they had all families who cared for them. She was sure because only ash was the last leftover of their existence, they did not even know they were dead. Even after several days, there was nothing in the newspaper about the massacre. There stood only that homeless people had made a great fire and left all this ash. No one would expect that this were once humans. It seemed that she was the only witness who knew what really happened.

_Perhaps I can convince him that killing isn´t good ?_ Alone this silly thought let her nearly laugh. As if he would stop because she pleaded him. All the things she knew about him was that he was a ruthless person with no feelings who liked it to kill and who threatened her and the ones she loved with the death when she spoke with someone about the incident. She knew he was capable of killing her in one motion.

For this she feared him.

But she would never give up to do everything to hold him back the next time when he tried to kill a person. No, this time she would act and save the life, even if it was dangerous for her. Only moments later, she heard how the door pushed open and Kondo entered the room. Like always, he possessed this father-like appearance which they all liked. As he came to a halt in front of them, all eyes were trained on him.

„You have a new job."

~xXx~

After some time, the car reached its destination and halted in the foggy ally. It was generally a day they could describe as gloomy, could the group see very bad through the dense mist which ruled the place. Chizuru had even problems to say if they were in the right ally through the bad visual conditions. But Hideyoshi was sure they were right and she knew he was someone who was rarely wrong.

They exited the car and walked in the direction where they could hear the voices of the other policemen who were gathered around the place. Chizuru had already heard from Kondo what happened, but it was also important for them to go to the crime scene to see it with their own eyes in order to solve the case. They walked to one of the inspectors who had already expected the group as he turned his head in their direction. He possessed short white hair and was not really fragile. No, he was strongly build, much older than them and wore a grey-red uniform.

"Are you the ones from Kondos Division ?" He asked in a serious voice as he looked at all of them. "Yes Sir!" It was Hideyoshi who answered first. The other man nodded his head before he looked to one of his men. "Take care of things here. I have something to do." The man nodded before he did what was asked from him while the inspector guided them directly to the crime scene.

They halted only three meters away from a woman who was lying on the ground with a knife in her stomach. While blood clung on her mouth, her eyes were looking into the nothing. Her black hair was muddled up and her clothes were torn.

Chizuru was distressed to see such a horrible scene in front of her eyes, but she tried hard to show nothing of it. As a policewoman, it was her duty to work properly on this case without own feelings which clouded her judgment ability. This was something her mentor told her during her training five years ago. She knew this sounded hard, but she wanted nothing more than to make her job good to help the people so she had no other choice.

"How horrible."

She heard the soft voice of Sen whispering through the silence. As she looked at her, she saw how she hold her hand in front of her mouth, touching her lips, showing how shocked she was about the awful sight. Sen started together with her her carrier in the police academy and she was equally taken aback from the cruelty of life. This was one of the reasons why they became friends.

Chizuru saw how Hideyoshi and the inspector walked to the side while they talked about something she could not understand. As no one was there to inspect the corpse, she decided she had to have a better look. In the next moment, she walked to the corpse and knelt down beside the woman to examine her. Quickly, she took out her gloves and put them on. The first thing what she noticed was that the fingernails of the woman showed strong wear tracks. Presumably, skin-particle could be found under her fingernails which would guide them to the killer. She knew this happened only when the victim fought with his murderer. As she looked closer, she saw that the woman held something in her fist. She stretched her hand out to take the thing she was holding. It took her a while to take the object from her hand.

It was a black button.

"Did you find something ?" Sen asked her, let her turn her head to the side where she was. Chizuru stood up from her kneeling position and showed her what she found. "She hold this button in her hand. Perhaps it was from her murderer." Sen took the button with her gloves and looked closer at it while Hideyoshi said his goodbyes to the inspector and walked in their direction.

"Are there any traces of the culprit ?" he asked in a serious manner while his eyes were trained on both women. Sen turned around to him. "Yes, we found a button which could be from the murderer." With her words, she hold the button in his direction. Hideyoshi took the button and looked at it closely.

"I think we should leave it to the securing of evidence." Before Hideyoshi could say anything more, they heard the sound of a motorbike. They looked up to see a person driving in the small ally, halting in front of them. As the driver get off of the vehicle, Chizuru had a really bad feeling. And it should be that her intuition was right as she saw _who_ it was.

"Sorry for being late. I have probably overslept." The man put his protective helmet down and revealed the face of Okita. With a wide grin, he looked at the two girls whereas he simply ignored Hideyoshi. Chizuru felt how his eyes were trained too long for her liking on her and she forced her eyes to look back in his green ones. Even if she feared him and his doings, she was too stubborn to show him that and she was sure he knew it as his grin widened. However, their connection broke apart as Hideyoshi raised his voice.

"You overslept ? Do you really think with this simple statement it is done that you are too late ?" Okita raised an eyebrow as he looked at the blue-haired man who was about the same height as him. Seemingly he did not took him serious enough which she could read on his face. But this did not prevent Hideyoshi from walking further. "You know we are a decent police station and we don´t need someone like you." She saw how his green orbs narrowed to thin slits and his jaw clenched.

"What did you say ?" Hideyoshi only frowned as he looked at Okita. "Are you deaf ? Shall I spell it to you ?" While he spoke, he made a step in his direction. She saw a weak glimmer on Okitas open hand and how he clenched his fist. Pictures from the incident appeared in her head, showed her what this man was capable of. Chizuru knew she had to do something when she wanted to avoid a massacre. Before Hideyoshi could make another step in his direction, she threw herself between the two which brought her surprised gazes by the men.

"Chizuru-chan ?" Hideyoshi was confused to see her standing in front of Okita, seemingly protecting him. He had never thought that Chizuru would take party for this man she knew since one day. "What are you doing ?"

"I..."

She hesitated. What should she say ? That she wanted to hold Okita back to kill her friend ? In this moment, she remembered his words: _"I am here to see if you will tell anyone about what you witnessed. When you do it, I will burn everyone who knows it with these hands."_ No, this was something she could not make public. When she would do it, he would kill all the people who were important to her. This was something she could not justify. With a determined gaze, she looked up as she spoke.

"I won´t allow you to touch him!"

Puzzled by her words, the only thing he did was staring while Sen did the same. What was she saying ? He could not understand why Chizuru acted so strange in this very moment, neither he could believe her words. There had to be a good reason for her behavior, he decided.

"You know him only since one day, Chizuru-chan. Tell me, why the hell do you protect him ?"

His gaze hardened by his words while his voice got louder. Chizuru felt how her heart ached by his harsh words, but she could not draw back yet. No, she had to protect the man she hated in this very moment. Then, she recalled the words Kaoru always used when he was annoyed with her.

"This isn´t any of you business." She saw how Hideyoshis eyes widened in disbelief before his eyes narrowed. "When this is your answer...then I don´t see any reason for me to get you back as my partner."

With his words, he turned around and walked back to the black car. She looked after him, before she turned her head again in the direction of Sen who stood rooted to the spot, looking at her with a sad gaze.

"Chizuru-chan..." She opened her mouth to say something, but instead, she forced a smile on her lips while she tried to hold back her tears. Hideyoshi was always like a real brother to her, and now it felt as if she had lost him because of this man. She felt how the anger boiled up in her body as she thought of Okita who still stood behind her. She wondered what his expression was. Was he amused about her foolishness ?

_Surely_, she thought. _For him this is just a game in his sick head._

Sen did not wait for a response from her as she passed her and walked to the black car where Hideyoshi was already waiting for her. Only moments later, the car drove away, leaving her behind.

* * *

With his motorbike, Souji drove over the asphalt in the direction of the current crime scene, protected by his helmet from the strong wind around him due to his fast pace. It was a foggy day, but this did not prevent him from driving, could he see clearly thanks to his good eyes. After he had overslept and was thrown out of his bed by a very angry Hijikata, he is driven to the police station. But to his misfortune, his team was already at the crime scene he was told by Kondo, the chief of the station. He seemed to be a very nice guy, but he was too nice for his liking. He knew that nice people were mostly the weakest and died very fast.

A picture of a man popped up in his mind, let him clench his jaw in anger. How many years he searched for this guy, he asked himself. He had done everything to find him, but nothing seemed to work which frustrated him.

Only moments later, Souji could already see the small ally. From wide afar, he saw his team together with the girl he had to watch. It was annoying for him to look after a small girl so she did not say a word about what happened, he found it wide more easy to just kill her. For him, it was wide more important to find this man instead of watching a girl. But he knew he could do nothing against his orders. Sighing, he lead the motorbike to the ally and saw how all heads shot in his direction. Calmly, he climbed down the vehicle and walked to his group who looked at him confused.

"Sorry for being late. I have probably overslept."

With this words, he put down his helmet and grinned at the two girls while he ignored the blue-haired guy. His gaze switched to the girl named Chizuru while his grin widened a little by the shocked expression which graced her face. Even if Souji could only imagine what she was thinking, he knew she was not pleased to see him. As she had recovered from the shock, her eyes bored themselves stubbornly in his green ones which he found really entertaining. With a smile still gracing his lips, he accepted the challenge. But their connection ended wide more early as this nameless guy raised his voice.

"You overslept ? Do you really think with this simple statement it is done that you are too late ?" Souji raised an eyebrow and looked for the first time at him. He had short blue hair and amber eyes which bored themselves fiery in his green orbs. It was clear that he was very pissed from his being late, but this was none of his business, he decided. How badly he just wanted to kill him that he just shut up. However, this guy seemed not to notice his killing intent as he spoke again.

"You know we are a decent police station and we don´t need someone like you." He felt how his eyes narrowed to thin slits and his jaw clenched in anger. Had he heard him right ? He said they did not need him ?

_How dare you._

"What did you say ?" It was very difficult for him to keep calm in front of this man. His whole body was under stream as he tried hard to keep his composure. But this guy did not know when it was enough as he frowned and made a step in his direction.

"Are you deaf ? Shall I spell it to you ?"

This was, he decided, enough. While Souji stared with the most threatening gaze he could manage at the man, he felt how a little flame arose in his hand and he clenched his fist. With this, he would kill him. It would be quickly. And then, he had to kill everyone around to avoid any more witnesses. He did not want to watch and threaten more than one girl. Souji was so distracted by his killing intent he did not notice a motion in his peripheral vision as Chizuru threw herself between them.

"Chizuru-chan ?" He heard the voice of the blue-haired guy who seemed as stunned as he was while he stared down at the petite girl with cold eyes. What was this girl thinking ? Did she really think she could stop him ? Had he not showed her the difference between them ? Before he could expand his thoughts more, he heard again the voice of this man. "What are you doing ?"

"I..." For a short moment, silence ruled the place, before she answered. "I won´t allow you to touch him." His eyes widened lightly by her words, before a content grin appeared on his face. Souji had never thought that a woman would dare to interrupt him. But this woman did it twice. More moments passed in which she talked with this guy, but he did not pay more attention to it.

This girl was really interesting.

* * *

She looked with a rueful expression after her two friends which left her alone with this man. How she regretted it to say this words to Hideyoshi. He was always there for her when she felt bad and did not required something in return for his help while her own family was not there. Her father was always too busy with his work while her brother was too occupied with his study. The only one who was there when she needed help besides Sen and Hideyoshi was her mother.

But she died several years ago.

The silence which ruled the place was not comfortable, no, it was suffocating and with every passing moment, she felt more bad. She did not even react as Okita passed her to walk to his motorbike before he turned his head in her direction, holding his helmet in hands.

"Do you want to stand there until you´re rotten ?" Only his voice brought her back to reality. She looked up in surprise to see him watching her with an indefinable gaze before he tapped on the place behind him. „Are you waiting that someone else walk for you or do you come at last ?" This time, his voice possessed an amused undertone. She hesitated, thinking about what he was up to do. Did he really invite her to drive with him ? Was there a hook ? As if he had read her thoughts, he sighed before he started the vehicle.

"When you don´t want to come, than you have no other choice than to walk back to the station." This simply words let her gasp in shock as she ran in his direction. "Wait!" Like expected, she climbed up the vehicle behind him. With a satisfied grin, he gave her his helmet.

"Here, I think you´ll need it more than I."

She took the helmet and put it on before he began to drive slowly. "You should hold on me, Chizuru-chan. Otherwise you´ll fall down." Her eyes widened lightly by his words, before a deep blush spread over her face. "N-No this isn´t necessary." With a confused expression he turned his head around.

"Are you sure ?" She nodded only and he decided it was the best to not argue with her. But as he drove faster, she felt how she was pulled back and clung herself on his body as if her life would depend on it. The only thing he did was laughing before they entered the street and drove in the direction of the police station.

Thirty minutes later, they reached their destination. Only this moment, Chizuru noticed that she was still clinging on Okita and drew back quickly with a flushed face. Fortunately, he did not say something to her behavior. Instead, he left the motorbike and looked at her. She did the same, while she was still wearing the helmet he gave her she put down now. He saw how she hold the helmet in her small hands, lying it on the seat of the vehicle carefully. Okita waited for her until she was ready and turned around.

"Come on. We should go." The two entered the station and were greeted by Kondo who walked just this moment through the corridor. As he saw them, a big smile formed on his face. "Ah Yukimura-kun. Okita-kun."

Chizurus previously bad mood switched abruptly as she saw Kondo, let her forget the presence of a certain person. "Ohayo Kondo-san." But this should change more quickly as she heard his next words. "How I see you are getting along pretty well with Okita-kun." Chizuru paled by his words. She was overwhelmed and did not know what she should say, did it not match the truth.

To her surprise, it was Okita who answered before she could.

"Naturally we are getting along well. After all, we are partner." To emphasize his words, he grabbed after her shoulder and pressed her against his side with this false smile which she could recognize immediately. Even if it was a friendly smile, was it for her nothing more than a grimace. However, Kondo seemed not to see through his facade and smiled wider. "It´s nice to hear that from you, Okita-kun."

Okita nodded and began to drag her along with him as he waved his goodbyes to Kondo while she stiffened by his touch. Again, she felt the warmth which radiated from his hands, knowing that this hands had taken away many lives. Even if no blood was on his hand, she knew he had killed before with it. Her thoughts were interrupted as he halted in front of an empty room and turned around to her with a raised eyebrow.

"You are a very bad actor, Chizuru-chan. When you don´t work on it, I have no other choice than to..." He did not finish his sentence, knew she all too well what he meant. He would kill everyone who was important to her. And she could do nothing against it. When she would talk with somebody about it, he would not hesitate to kill this person and than her. And when she would do it in secret and they fought all against him, she knew they had no chance. With his fire, he could burn them all. So the best thing she could do was to remain silent and do what he demanded.

How she hated it to not be able to do something against him.

With a short nod, she showed him she had understand what he wanted from her which he commented with a content grin. "Good girl." He patted her head before he turned around and walked to the office of their unit while she followed him.

~xXx~

They halted in front of the house where the husband of the dead woman lived. It was a big house with garden, pool and conservatory. In her mind, it was beautiful. Both left her car and walked to the front door where Chizuru rang the bell, waiting patiently for the man to appear while Okita looked around the garden. As the door opened, a middle-aged man with short brown hair and glasses opened the door, looking at both confused.

"Can I help you ?" Before Okita could raise a finger, Chizuru spoke. "My name is Yukimura Chizuru and the man beside me is Okita. We´re from the police and have to talk with you. May we come in ?" The man only nodded and stepped to the side to make place for them. The group entered the house, walking to the big living room. "Can you now tell me what´s going on ?"

"I think it´s the best when you sit down on the couch first." Reluctantly, he did what she asked for while she did the same and Okita took position behind the couch she was sitting on. She closed her eyes, remembering the picture of the dead woman in the ally whereas he waited impatiently for her to continue. As she opened her eyes, a dull expression could be seen in them.

"You´re wife was murdered." Silence ruled the place for a long time in which no one said something. Only the steady breathing of the three people could be heard until everything broke out from him. "My wife is...dead ?"

"Yes, she is. I am very sorry." She saw how tears began to run down his cheeks and his breathing was uneven. It was clear he was deeply affected by the death of his wife. "Can I ask you some questions, Goro-san ?" The man looked with teary eyes to her. "H-Hai..."

"Where were you between 1 and 3 am this morning?" She asked the man who was a nervous wreck, visibly broken as he received the message about the death of his beloved wife. More and more tears rolled down his cheeks as he covered his face with his hands to suppress a sob. By her question, he took his hands aside, thought not long about his reply. "I was in my bed. Sleeping."

"Can anyone testify ?"

"No, I was alone. Why are you asking anyway ?" Chizuru noted his statement, before she continued. "This is just routine. Don´t worry. Had your wife enemies ?" Again, he thought about it.

"No, I don´t think. She was loved by everyone."

Again, Chizuru noted everything while she thought if he was lying. All signs suggested he was speaking the truth. She was sure he could not make fake tears to convince her that he was really deeply affected by her death. This was not possible in her imagination. To her surprise, Okita raised his voice.

"Was this everything you can tell us ?" His sharp tone let Chizuru wonder what he was up to do. Goro seemed to think the same as he looked to him. "Yes, this was all." Even if Goro frowned, Okita could see how sweat covered his face and palms but before he could make a comment, Chizuru turned around.

"Okita-san, what are you doing ? He just lost his wife!" In her voice you could hear how angry she was about his behavior. How could a man be so insensitive, she asked herself. He just looked at her with this same cold green eyes before he let his gaze wander around the room, wrapped himself in silence. Ignoring him, Chizuru looked again at the man named Goro.

"I am sorry for his behavior but he is new in this job." The man nodded in understanding before he stood up from his sitting position and walked to the window. "Can you tell me how she died ?" You could hear the sad tone in his voice as he spoke. But to his regret, she shook her head.

"I can´t give you this information." The man cleared his throat. "I think it´s the best when you go for now." Chizuru could understand that he needed his time to handle with the death of his wife so she stood up from her sitting position and walked to Okita. With a not so enthusiastic tone, she spoke.

"Let´s go."

He nodded only before he turned around and left together with her the house. None of them noticed the object which fell out her jacket.


	6. Chapter 5

**I am so sorry for the long delay! Some reasons kept me from updating faster. Please enjoy!**

_Chapter 5_

In silence, they entered the station and walked to their office where they should gather all the information they had collect. As Chizuru opened the door, she saw how Hideyoshi and Sen did not even bother to look up from their paperwork. Seemingly, they knew very well who it was. But the fact that they did not look at her made her feel more guilty. She heard how the door closed and turned around to see how Okita hung his black jacket on the wardrobe. He wore a red shirt, under which she could guess his indicated muscles and dark-blue jeans. Okita seemed to feel her gaze as he turned his head in her direction with a grin.

„Do you like what you see ?"

Without a word, she passed him and hung her jacket beside his and walked to her own desk. Chizuru let herself fall on her chair and looked at the stack of paperwork which she had to do during the day.

"Have you find something out ?" Hideyoshi asked her while he sat himself on the edge of her desk. With a surprised expression, she looked up and met his gaze that told her he had not forgiven her. She lowered her head and replied. "Her husband seems to speak the truth. I don´t think he has something to do with her death."

"I see. However, where were you last Friday Chizuru-chan ?"

_Last Friday ?_ This was the day where she was at the Shopping Mall and where she met...Her gaze wandered secretly to Okita who put his things away in his desk. Quickly, she trained her attention back to Hideyoshi who waited impatiently for her response. He seemed not to notice her short distraction to her luck.

"I was at the Shopping Mall with O-Sen-chan." He raised his eyebrow. "And why didn´t you come to our date after it ? I was waiting for you." Then, she remembered there was indeed a date she had forgotten due to the things which happened to her. She bit her lip and avoided his gaze.

"This is..."

"You´d forgotten it, right ?" She hesitated before she nodded in agreement which let him sigh. "So my guess was right, huh ?" With this, he jumped down from the desk and walked a few steps before he turned his attention back to her. "What was so important you had to blow me off ? It was a promise after all." She gulped. What should she say ? She could not tell him the truth where she really was when she not wanted that they all died. Chizuru raised her head and looked again at Okita who seemed not to pay much attention to her and Hideyoshi. She decided it was the best when she lied to him, even if it pained her to lie.

"Nothing. After the Shopping trip, I drove with the bus home. I´d forget our date." With a deep sigh, he halted in front of the coffee machine and made himself coffee. Then, he walked back to her. "So you simply forget it. I really hoped you would come." He fell silent for a while, staring at his coffee while Chizuru thought about what she could say to ease the atmosphere. She knew that Hideyoshi was a man who hated it when someone break a promise. For him, it was the worst thing which could happen. After a while of silence, he walked back to his desk. Chizuru regarded his broad back, thinking about what she did wrong and wondered when it had begun that this invisible force tore them apart.

Hours passed in which Sen and Hideyoshi worked together on the current case whereas Chizuru and Okita worked for themselves. They did not even look at each other and Chizuru was thankful that he was at least a little tactful and did not try to come near her. She was too angry at him that it could be that she shouted at him when he did it so. And the reason for it was simple.

It was all his fault.

Only because of him, she had argued with her best friend and felt now guilty. She did not even know what she could do that he forgive her for what she did. Would he forgive her at all ? She did not know.

Suddenly, Hideyoshi stood up from his position and walked to the wardrobe where he took his jacket. He let his gaze wander to Sen who seemed to be confused like Chizuru. But the only thing he did was pointing at the clock.

"Work is over. I am going home." With this words, he left the room. Chizuru looked for a long time after him, wondering why it was him who left first, was this very untypically for him. But before she could think about it any longer, she saw how Okita put his jacket on and looked one last time to the girls.

"See ya tomorrow." With a wink, he left the two girls alone. The moment he left, Chizuru let out a breath she had held back for a long time. She was glad he was gone so the tense atmosphere could ease a little. Then, Sen stood up from her chair and walked to her. "Chizuru-chan, we have to talk." The young woman looked at her confused but she nodded. What was Sen up to do, she wondered. She saw how Sen took her chair and sat herself across form her. With a strict gaze, which was more than uncharacteristically for her, she spoke.

"Chizuru-chan. Are you in love with this Okita guy ?" She felt how a frown formed on her forehead as she heard her question. What thought Sen about her ? "No, I am not. Why do you think that ?"

"Because you _protected_ him from Hide-kun. You know him only since a few days and act as if he was more important to you as we." She was right. She really acted strange. But this was only to protect her friends from Okita! And the worst thing was she could not reveal the truth to them. When she would do it, bad things would happen. "He isn´t important to me, O-Sen-chan." While she spoke, she looked to the side so she could not see Sens face.

"Then tell me, why did you protect him ?" Now, she needed a very good reason. But what should she say ? Then, an idea popped up in her mind, even if it was not the best idea. She turned her head back in Sens direction, trying hard to look firm. "I´ve protected him because he is new in our station and has no one who stands behind him."

_Liar._

She could almost hear her inner voice which cursed her for being dishonest. But to her luck, Sen seemed not to see through her lie, even if she was not fully convinced. "I see. So this was your reason." A faint smile graced her lips as she looked at her friend. "I am glad you´re honest with me, Chizuru-chan." Even if she returned her smile, her words felt like knives which bored themselves deep in her flesh because she lied again to her for which she felt bad. Sen stood up and took the chair back to her own desk before she prepared herself for depart while Chizuru watched all her doings. The moment Sen was ready, she walked to Chizuru and hugged her.

"See you."

With a last smile, she left Chizuru with her thoughts alone.

~xXx~

At the next day, the group drove to the work place of the murdered woman. They had found out that she was a hairdresser and had a job at a hairdressing salon in the middle of the city together with three other people who worked at the same place. All had to be interrogated, could the information bring them further in the current case. The three, consisting of Sen, Chizuru and Hideyoshi (Okita was nowhere to be found as they prepared themselves for depart) left the car and looked up at the logo of the salon where they could see the letters for _Salon of Flowers. _It was not an old shop, no, it seemed to be a very new one Chizuru could tell from the lack of decay. The shades of yellow looked very nice she had to admit as she regarded it closer.

"There we are. Let´s go."

With Hideyoshis words, Chizuru followed him and Sen and walked to the salon. The moment they entered, a woman went in their direction to greet the group with a friendly smile.

"Good morning. What can I do for you ?" It was Hideyoshi who took out his mark which showed his Police affiliation before he spoke. "We´re from the police. Can I ask you some questions ?" The woman needed a moment to look at his mark before she nodded. "Yes Sir."

Hideyoshi nodded to Sen and Chizuru, showed them that he would take care of the woman while they should go to the other two people who worked at this moment. While Sen walked to the only man in the salon on the right side, Chizuru walked to a woman who was the nearest. She possessed short red hair and blue-green eyes.

"Excuse me ?" The woman turned her head in her direction and paused her work, looking questioned at her. "Can I help you with something, Miss ?" Chizuru nodded and took out her mark. "My name is Yukimura Chizuru. I am from the police and I need to ask you some questions." The woman took down her scissor after some hesitation and excused herself from her customer before she showed Chizuru the way to an adjacent room. There, she offered her a place where she could sit and introduced herself as Todou Minami. As both were facing each other, Chizuru raised her voice.

"You might ask yourself what´s going on, Minami-san." The other woman nodded. "I think it has to be something important when the police comes all the way to a hairdresser." Chizuru crossed her fingers into each other as she replied. "It has to do with your co-worker Yasaru-san." The other woman frowned. "What is with Yasaru-chan ?"

"She is dead."

The woman named Minami looked at her as if she would tell her that aliens would really exist. It lasted for a long time until you could see a reaction from her. She guided her hand in front of her mouth.

"Yasaru-chan is..." She did not finish her sentence as the whole meaning of her words reached her. Chizuru gave her the time she needed for her own thoughts, could she imagine how difficult it was to handle the death of a beloved person. She had to learn this for herself as her mother was killed by an unknown person. Even years later, no one knew who the culprit was. She decided the silence was long enough and continued.

"Can I ask you some questions ?" Minami nodded in her direction, trying hard to be strong. It was visibly hard for her to handle with the death of her co-worker. Perhaps they were friends ? Chizuru knew it was only a matter of time when she knew it. "Where were you this morning between 1 and 3 am Minami-san ?"

"I was sleeping in my bed." While she spoke, Chizuru wrote it down in her notebook. "Can anyone testify it ?" Minami avoided her gaze. "Yes, my boyfriend. We live together in an apartment." Again, Chizuru noted it before she laid her pencil down, looking straight at the face of Minami.

"Can you tell me more about Yasaru-san ?" Surprised by her question, Minami looked at her before she responded. "Yasaru-chan was a beautiful woman with a charismatic character everyone liked and loved. She was a wonderful person." A pained expression crossed her face, showed how deeply affected she was by her death. „Died she without any pain ?"

Her question caught her off guard. Chizuru remembered back the picture of the dead Yasaru and shivered. No, she died not without pain.

"Were you friends." Minami nodded. "Hai, we were good friends."

"Then you can surely tell me if she had enemies." With this, Chizuru hoped she could avoid her question. She did not want her to know the true circumstances of her death. For a short time, a pause built up between the two women as Minami thought about the answer while Chizuru waited patiently. Whereas she thought, Chizuru let her gaze wander around the room. It was not a very big room and it possessed only a small window and a cupboard, on which you could see a vase with flowers that stood under the window. As she guided her attention back to Minami, she saw that her expression has changed.

"She told me about a man who harassed her since a few weeks. She was afraid of him, but I don´t know who he was or how he looks." A frown formed on Chizurus forehead as she heard her words. But she said nothing to it as she wrote it down on the paper and stood up from her chair. "That´s all. I´ll be on my way. When you come up with something new, please call me." She gave her her visiting card and left short time later with Sen and Hideyoshi the salon.

The moment they entered the office, they could already smell the scent of fresh coffee which hung in the air. While Chizuru´s nose was focused on the scent, her eyes were trained on the source of it. Not so far away behind a desk, sat the person with his coffee as if nothing was wrong with his being here. As he spotted the three, he stood up from his place smiling.

"Mornin´." This was seemingly enough for Hideyoshi as he looked outraged at his co-worker. He was not a person with many patience or who liked it when people break the rules. „You´re again too late!"

"Are, are not rather _you_ the one being late ? I was here all the time. You can ask Kondo-san if you don´t believe me." To emphasize his statement, he pointed to the clock which showed the time of 8 am. Angry about his impudent lie, Hideyoshi spat.

"You...!"

Then, Chizuru saw how Okita winked at her and she understood what he was trying to do. He wanted that Hideyoshi plunged on him so he could hurt her friend. To avoid this, the only thing she could do was to stop him and hurt his feelings. Again. She felt how the anger about him boiled up in her and saw how it entertained him visibly. But as she noticed that Hideyoshi would do what Okita provoked earlier, she decided it was time to act. She positioned herself in front of Hideyoshi and spread out her arms.

"Please stop it." He looked down at her again with the same expression like yesterday that told her how disappointed he was. "So you´re protecting him again..." Without another word, he walked to the coffee machine and made himself a strong coffee before he took a place at his desk while Chizuru stood at the same spot, looking down with a guilty expression.

* * *

With sharp eyes, Souji looked at the white dummies which stood between ten and twenty meters away from him. He felt how the heat increased in his body as he prepared himself for the attack. Then, he looked at the pointer of the clock which was approaching the number twelve. The moment the pointer showed twelve he ran in the direction of the dummies which fired at the same moment with bullets at him. Graceful, he avoided a direct hit with his inhuman speed and ran in the direction of the nearest dummy which tried to shot him in the head.

In the last moment, he dodged the attack and hold his hand on the chest of the dummy. Seconds later, flames ate its way through it, let it melt away. However, Okita let not many time pass as he jumped to the side, only to avoid a hand grenade which almost had blast his leg away. As he ran to the next three dummies, he spread his arms and touched the chest of two dummies while running and let them burn like the previous one. After that, he ducked again from more bullets and chopped off with his right arm the head of the next dummy. More seconds passed in which he burnt, kicked or beat the dummies until nothing of them was left. Only minutes later, he stood there hard breathing, with limp hanging arms and aching body.

Suddenly, you could hear the sound of approaching footsteps, but Okita was too weak to turn around. He simply let himself fall on his back to the hard ground and looked at the face which appeared above him.

"Your limit is ten minutes, Souji." A weak smile appeared on Souji´s face as he heard that. "Thanks for watching my training, Hajime-kun." Saito only nodded before he let his gaze wander to the burnt or heavily damaged dummies. It was not rare to see after Souji´s training that the dummies were broken, was it a normal sight for him. Generally, it was important for them to practice their abilities from time to time so that they could use their power without worry that they were too weak when _they_ showed up.

"Hijikata-san said that it would be better when you increase your limit to fifteen minutes." Soujis eyes widened lightly by his words. He should what ? "Is Hijikata-san insane ? How shall I do this ? I can´t even move my litle finger." He spoke while he felt how his limbs felt heavier and heavier with every passing minute. It was one of the many side effects that his body fell limp when he used all his power. This was one of the reasons why they worked always in teams. On this way, they could support each other. Saito only looked at him with a blank expression.

"It was his order. Think about a way."

With his words, he turned around and left the room while Souji still laid on the ground, looking at the ceiling. He did not know what he should do or how he could increase his limit when he was already done after ten minutes. Was there really a way to increase it ?

For him, it was impossible.

A hour passed in which he laid lifeless on the ground until he could move. He knew the side effects lasted always one hour when he used up all his power. The moment he stood upright, he took his shirt he had took off before he started his training to walk to the nearest shower to wash away all the sweat which covered his body. After his shower, he walked to the office of Hijikata and entered the room after he had knocked.

"Is everything alright at the station ?" He asked without looking up as Souji came in. While he walked to the desk, he saw that also Saito was in the room which surprised him. The moment he sat himself beside him, he looked with a questioning look at Hijikata before he answered.

"Yes, she hasn´t spoken about the incident. I think I´ve cowed her enough." The black-haired man continued his writing as he spoke. "Good. Hopefully, she won´t do it in the future."

"What is the meaning for me and Hajime-kun to come to you, Hijikata-san ?" This time, Hijikata stopped writing for several seconds before he continued. Souji frowned by his odd behavior, but he said nothing to it whereas Saito remained silent all the time. Then, he laid down his pencil and looked with his famous strict gaze at the two men in front of him.

"I have a new target for you."

* * *

The sun was setting long time ago and night ruled the place as she decided it was time to finish her work. With an exhausted sigh, she took her jacket and looked one last time back to her desk if she had not forgotten something important before she would drive home with her car. It was already late and she was the last one at the station, but this did not prevent her from working long because she loved it. With her work, she could distract herself from her thoughts of her unloved partner who had left three hours ago. It seemed that he had more important things to do than to work which unnerved her. Generally, she found it rude from him how he spoke with the people at the station or how he acted. But to her regret, she could do nothing against him. No, it was more worse. She had to _protect_ him from guys like Hideyoshi to prevent a massacre and this seemed to entertain him. With a defeated expression, she took a deep breath to calm down before she cleared the light and left the office.

The moment she stepped out, a cold wind embraced her, played with her long brown hair and let her shiver. It was not usual to be cold during summer, but seemingly this did not interest the weather. As she walked to her red car which stood on the parking lot, she remembered that she was too late for Kaorus liking and decided it would be the best to call him and convince him she was alright. She reached for her mobile-phone in her jacket pocket. But there was nothing. Confused, she continued her search with no result.

"I´ve lost it..." She murmured in the silence as she took a look in her pocket and saw there was nothing while she thought febrile where she had lost it. At Goro she had it she knew and when she was at the hairdressing salon...she did not had it. _I´ve lost it during my visit at Goro-san! _With this thought in her mind, she entered her car in a fluid motion and turned the key around to start the vehicle to drive in the direction where he lived to take her mobile-phone back. She was sure he had already found it and wanted that she come to take it back.

After twenty minutes, she reached her destination.

As she left the car, she saw that light was still burning in his house which surprised her a little, was it very late. Nevertheless, she walked to the door after she left the car and rang the bell. More minutes passed in which nothing happened. Frowning, she began to become impatiently as she knocked on the door.

"Goro-san ? I am here because I lost my-"

She did not finish her sentence as she noticed that the door was already open. This was something she had not expected. With a confused expression, she looked at the door and pushed it more open with her hand to see the lit corridor. She had a very bad feeling as she walked in the house knowing that something was wrong. In one motion, she took out her gun and hold it in front of her. As a policewoman, it was her duty to see if Goro was alright.

"Goro-san ?"

Her voice echoed in the house, but there was no response. As she entered the living room, she looked around to see if Goro was there and saw her mobile-phone lying lonely on the dining table. _Shall I just take it and leave ? _She thought as she looked at her phone. Seemingly, Goro was out and the only thing she wanted was her mobile-phone back. Even if it seemed not right to her to just take it, she decided she should do it simply. With firm steps, she walked to the table and reached for it as she heard a soft noise. Slowly, she turned her head to her right and saw Goro standing there with his own gun in hands. She saw that he was holding the gun in the direction of her head. Quickly, she let go of her mobile-phone and turned in his direction.

"I am sorry Goro-san, but the door was open so I thought-" He did not let her finish her sentence as he made a step in her direction. "You could just go in and finish what you haven´t done yet, right ?" Confused by his statement, she simply stared at him while she lowered her service weapon. From what he was speaking, she wondered. She decided it was the best when she told him the reason for her coming. „No you´re wrong. I just lost my mobile-phone and wanted to pick it up."

His gaze switched to the phone she was referring to before he nodded and lowered his gun. Relieved, Chizuru put her service weapon back in her pocket. She was glad he understood her position. Suddenly, he stretched out his hand and smiled.

"Come Yukimura-san. I am sure you´re confused by my doings. Let me explain it to you by a drink."

With this, he walked to the kitchen and came back with a bottle and two drinking glasses with red liquid. He walked to her side and gave her one of the glasses she took in her hand gratefully. She smelled on the glass and noticed it had a bitter smell. Then, she guided it to her mouth. While she did this, Goro regarded her with a nervous gaze which she did not see. The moment her lips touched the glass and she took the first sip, a dark smile begin to spread over Goros face as Chizuru let the glass fall to the ground. With confusion, she noticed that her vision began to blur and her legs got heavier and heavier as Goro began to laugh like a maniac.

"G-Goro-san ?"

"You´re so naive, Yukimura-san." With his words, he walked to her and caught her body before she fall to the ground. Then, he took a knife he had prepared and hold it on her pale neck. Even if her senses were clouded, she could realize everything. "What are you...doing ?" He did not answer her question. Instead, he looked her deep in her eyes. "You know, you remember me of my wife."

"You´re..wife ?" She felt how it got more and more difficult for her to breath as she spoke, but this did not bother him as he positioned the knife on her stomach. It was the same spot where his wife was killed.

"You know, I loved her. But she did not love me. She was only by my side to get my money I have inherited from my death parents." Then, he began to circle the knife around her stomach. "This was the reason why she betrayed me. But she betrayed me not once, no, she did it nearly every day. This hoe." Chizuru listened to his story while she felt weaker and weaker. Was there something in her glass which made her so tired, she wondered. As he ended, she tried hard to gather all her strength for her next words.

"H-Have you killed her ?" He looked at her with a undefineable gaze. "Of course I have. I thought it would be nice from me to reveal you the truth before I kill you, Yukimura-san. I can´t let you go after you know the truth." After he spoke, he laughed again while he readied himself for the last strike as the air froze. He looked with confused eyes at the scene, not believing what just happened.

"What the-"

Goro spoke as ice began to spread the walls. He looked shocked at the ice which ensured that the temperature sank under zero degree. As Chizuru took a deep breath, she saw how steam arose in front of her mouth. Thousand thoughts shot through her head as she saw how the ice covered everything in its cold embrace. Suddenly, the eyes of Goro widened and he looked in panic around.

"No, this can´t be!"

With this shout, he let go off her and wanted to run away but in the next moment, his feet were frozen on the ground. While he tried hard to move his legs, Chizuru looked around the frozen room, trying hard to stay awake. She asked herself what just happened, as she heard a familiar voice.

"My my, you´re always in trouble, Chizuru-chan." As she heard this voice, her body stiffened. Slowly, she turned her head around to see Okita together with the lilac haired man from the SOC standing at the door. She frowned as she saw that he did not wore his uniform. No, both wore black cloaks with a also black jacket. After she had recovered from the shock, she spoke.

"O-Okita-san ? What are you doing here ?" He smiled at her. "Should not I be the one who ask you that, Chizuru-chan ?" Now, she was more confused. She was just here to get her phone back and he ? What business had he to do here, she asked herself. „I-I´m here because I lost my mobile-phone." He seemed to be surprised by her answer as he looked at her with these green eyes which sent normally shivers down her spine. But this time, she felt too weak to react properly. What he was thinking this very moment, she wondered. But before she could say a single word, the man named Goro murmured.

"You can´t be the ones from which they told me. No, this can´t be." While he spoke, he took his gun out and hold it in the direction of Okitas head, was he in his mind the more dangerous person than the lilac haired guy. But neither one of them seemed to take him seriously as the other man walked in Goros direction. In panic, he began to shoot at him, but none of the bullet hit their target as they froze in the air and fell to the ground.

"No, No, NO!"

Goro shot with more and more bullets until he had nothing left. In fear, he looked in the azure-blue eyes of the lilac haired man who stretched out his hand and touched his forehead. Only seconds later, ice began to spread at the spot he had touched him over his body until he was covered whole. While Chizuru stared in disbelief what this man had just done to Goro, Okita walked to his friend.

"Good work, Hajime-kun." With a satisfied smile, he walked to Goro and looked at his frozen face, before he laid his own hand on his chest and melt the ice and the body under it away until only a lumpy mass was the last leftover of the man. Chizurus eyes were trained on the mass of the man named Goro while she wondered why he had to die.

"Oi, Chizuru-chan. Don´t worry, it´s over. We´ve killed this scum." As she heard the voice of Okita, she had the urge to hold her hands on her ears to not hear his voice again. But instead, she looked with weak eyes at Okita who stood over her, stretching out his hand to help her up. Just this moment, he saw the broken glass with the red liquid on the ground and sighed.

"So you fall into his trap. I think we should take you to the hospital first." With his words, he picked her up from the ground in bridal style whereas Chizuru remained still, even if she did not want that he carried her, she had not the strength left to fight him. He did not pay much attention to it as he looked back to his partner.

"Let´s go, Hajime-kun."

With a short nod, the man called Hajime and Okita left the house.


End file.
